1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stator for a brushless, electronically commutated electric motor having a ferromagnetic stator core wound with stator windings and control electronics for controlling the stator windings. The invention further also relates to a brushless electric motor having a rotor as well as a stator of the kind mentioned above.
2. Related Technology
Such electric DC motors, also frequently called EC motors (EC=electronically commutated) or BLDC motors (BLDC—brushless direct current), in practice have to be provided with a protection against excess temperature. For this purpose, it has been known to place so-called thermal protectors, i.e. temperature-dependent switching elements, e.g. PTC elements, directly on the stator in the region of the stator windings, and frequently also inside the stator slots that accommodate the windings. This results in a complex manufacturing and assembly process because, as a general rule, several, in fact at least three, thermal protectors or sensors are required, which have to be mounted and electrically connected separately, namely before the stator core with the windings encapsulated in a plastic material, in particular, injection-molded.
It is the underlying object of the present invention to provide a generic stator which has a simplified design and thus can be manufactured in a simplified and more cost-effective manner